40 Water Drops

Water wears away the stones…

Job 14

How did Rabbi Akiva start out? He was forty years old and had never engaged in study.
Once, he stood at a well and asked, “Who engraved this stone?” They told him, “The water, which drips upon it every day.” And they said to him, “Akiva, don’t you know the verse, ‘Water wears away the stones…’?” Then and there, Rabbi Akiva drew this conclusion: If something soft can chisel its way through something hard, then surely the words of Torah, which are as hard as iron, can penetrate my heart, which is flesh and blood.” Immediately, he began studying Torah. >em>Avot D’Rabbi Natan 6